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Sara rushed to greet him as soon as he passed through the security door. He spoke to her, his handsome face serious. She nodded and led him toward my office as quickly as she could.
I glanced at my office door. There was time. I could grab my purse and Onyx. Slip out the back before they got to my office. Jump in the Bentley and take off. Me, my dog, and the open road. Drive as far and as fast as I could. Not stop. Run. No more handsome Boy Scout. No more Delgattos.
I sighed and shook my head.
I’d run away from Oklahoma—running never fixed anything.
I picked a single black dog hair from my cream slacks and smoothed my perfectly ironed hair. I wouldn’t run. I forced my lips into a semblance of a smile and turned my chair toward the door. The seconds it took for Sara to deliver Derek to me felt like an eternity, but before I was prepared, they were in my office.
My eyes drank in the sight of him. I remembered every moment I’d spent in his arms. The memories replayed in a slow-motion highlight reel, complete with a soaring musical score. He started to round my desk and take me in his arms but staggered to a stop. His hand fell to his side, and a sad smile twisted his lips.
I wished he’d touched me. Something. Anything. Just my fingertips. A drop of water for a woman dying of thirst.
We stared at each other, not saying a word. Sara babbled about bringing us coffee. We ignored her. When she stopped talking, I dismissed her with a no thank you and a wave. Derek wouldn’t be staying long enough for coffee. It was too painful, the wound still fresh.
We were alone, only my desk separating us. He remained standing, looking at me with an expression on his handsome face that I couldn’t decipher. There was regret, but something else too. Triumph or eagerness, maybe.
I waited for him to speak, not sure what else to do. He came to me.
“Lee, hear me out. You said I couldn’t help because I didn’t understand your world. But I’m a package deal. I come with all the expertise of The Smith Agency. I work with a lot of interesting people. More than one of them knows the ins and outs of being on the wrong side of the law.” His words tumbled out fast, like he thought I might cut him off.
A delicate flutter of something that could be hope or fear flickered in my chest. I tamped it down. The thought of Derek sinking into the mire that was life inside the Delgatto organization made my stomach sour.
“Derek, what did you do?” It wasn’t an accusation. The question was all I could manage as scenarios that ranged from bad to worse played in my mind. I should tell him to leave.
“I found the watches.” He leaned forward, his knuckles resting on my desktop.
Silence followed his proclamation as I tried to unwind the statement, understand how he found them before me. I’d tapped every disreputable, angry contact I had in South Florida searching for information and got nothing.
I leaned forward until we were almost nose to nose. His ridiculously wonderful scent enveloped me. His lips were close enough to kiss. I grabbed his wrists and held tight. I wanted to touch him as much as I wanted to know how he’d found the merchandise.
I’d been so frustrated, afraid, and alone for the last few days. A million times I’d wished I’d taken the job way back when Jimmy first offered it. My regrets grew exponentially at each dead end. Now Derek was telling me he’d done what I couldn’t. Inconceivable.
“What? Where? How?” I shook my head slowly in disbelief.
“Tony Delgatto.”
He answered all my questions with a name.
I felt sick.
I crumpled back into my leather desk chair. My stomach turned over at the revelation. I was nauseous. The need to retch grew as the ramifications became clear. Tony would have sold me out to Jimmy. Served me up on a silver platter and let me pay for…his greed.
I dove for the garbage can under my desk. My knees hit the carpet hard enough to bruise. In a cold sweat, I hunched over the can and vomited up the meager contents of my stomach.
Strong and steady Derek crouched behind me. He gently held the long strands of my hair at the base of my neck. The slow glide of his hand up and down my back helped to chase away the last spasms that racked my limp, shuddering body.
“Easy, Lee. I’ve got you.”
I sagged back into his muscular chest and sniffed, trying to pull myself together. He passed me tissues from the box on the desk, and I wiped my mouth and smeared makeup. The wild fear that had flooded through me receded, replaced by numbness.
He wrapped me in his arms and held me until my breathing evened out.
I tipped my head back to rest on his shoulder and stared at the underside of my desk. I was a mess.
“You alright?” His voice was hardly more than a whisper.
“No.” It was the truth.
